The Camp Olden Gazette News from the Camp Olden Civil War Round Table Summer 2016 President’s Gavel. There have been some interesting events over the Camp Olden Gettysburg Trip last few weeks including the reenactment at Contributed by Corinne Mazzocchi Neshaminy, the very successful Camp Olden trip Exploring the Gettysburg Battlefield always offers to Gettysburg and the Spirit of the Jerseys State new discoveries. It might be a new or expanded History Fair at Monmouth Battlefield State Park opinion of the battle, a site not seen before, in Manalapan. I heard that all went very well at hearing how the battlefield became what it is the History Fair (see accompanying article on today or even a different restaurant. The recent page 5). I thank every one of the volunteers for the Camp Olden trip, well planned by Sue and Gary day. Sorry I missed everyone but I had another DeSiver, had all of these possibilities. obligation and was unable to be in two places at Led by Licensed Battlefield Guide Dave once but I am sure that Camp Olden was well Hamacher, the Saturday morning hiking tour served in the good hands of Vice President Bill started on Cemetery Hill. It passed often Moore and other members of the round table. overlooked Menchey’s Spring where soldiers Our up-coming speakers are: were protected once there but at risk getting to and June 2nd - Gene Schmiel - Citizen General Jacob leaving. The climb up Culp’s Hill followed a trail Dolson Cox through the woods, removed from the tour road, July 7th - Movie with Producer Tom Burke - making the soldiers’ struggles a reality. On top of "Called to Duty" the hill by the modern tower, Dave explained there could have been a thousand soldiers placed September 1st - Paul Kahan - Simon Cameron, there in that limited space. The tour then went on Admirable Scoundrel down Culp’s Hill to Pardee Field and returned up October 6th - Allen Meash - Maj. Gen. Charles F. Cemetery Hill with explanations of the flow of Smith battle. Hope to see you all at the June meeting! Your obedient servant, Bruce. ♦ Hospitality: Thanks to all members who help with Hospitality! Following is the list of volunteers for the future. June – Corinne & Mike Mazzocchi July - Susan Slowik & Don Cooper Cemetery Hill Aug - No Meeting Licensed Battlefield Guide and Camp Olden Sept – Need Volunteer member Ralph Siegel presented the afternoon tour Oct - Covered Dish – 5:45 Start Time - Art in the Park. His lively lecture showed how Nov – Need Volunteer the styles for memorials gradually changed from Dec – Board ♦ neoclassic, the Soldiers National Monument, to realism, the North Carolina Monument sculpted The Camp Olden Gazette 1 by Gutzon Borglum of Mt. Rushmore fame. Civil War Visits. Ralph’s stories of myths and facts were intriguing. One of our members did some traveling over the Many monuments contain symbolism not easily past few months. Following is a “field report”. recognized today. The Mississippi memorial has several references to “the lost cause.” Saturday ended with good food and interesting EXCHANGE HOTEL & Civil conversation at the Dobbin House Restaurant. War MEDICAL MUSEUM Sunday’s tour, again led by Dave Hamacher, Contributed by Jane Peters Estes explored lesser known places around the My husband and I recently took a 4-day trip to battlefield. It started where the first shot was fired Virginia which I nicknamed the “Founding on the Chambersburg Pike at Knoxlyn Road, three Fathers” tour because it included the homes of miles west of Gettysburg. The adjacent original four former presidents (Washington, Jefferson, building has been acquired by the Park Service Madison & Monroe). We also used the and, as funds grow, will be developed for opportunity to do more genealogical research on interpretation. Future development is also planned Gary’s family (Estes). While in Fredericksburg, for our next stop, the newly acquired Benner Farm Virginia, we visited the Heritage Center on Barton and springhouse on the Old Harrisburg Road. Street and saw the original 1798 deed to the Estes’ family plantation, Greenfields, with his ancestor’s signature (Richard Estes). The curator allowed Gary to hold the document and even made a copy for us to take home. Very exciting for a couple of history geeks! We ended up with a little bit of extra time so, of course, I had to include a Civil War related site to our travels. I had read about the Exchange Hotel in Gordonsville, Virginia, which is on the Benner Farm National Register of Historic Places and the The next stop was the Coster Avenue Mural. Virginia Landmarks Register and thought it would Having viewed the sad condition of the mural in be an interesting site. the past, seeing it restored was remarkable. It has been reverse-painted on glass and looks great. The tour ended with a short climb up Power’s Hill to look back toward Spangler’s Spring and the top of Culp’s Hill. It was a bonus piece of information to learn that the mini-golf course below Power’s Hill will become part of the battlefield when the owner retires. The Exchange Hotel was once a thriving tavern in the 1840’s and a Railroad Grand Hotel during the 1860’s. The building was used as the Gordonsville Receiving Hospital during the Civil War where Power’s Hill 70,000 Confederate and Union soldiers were It was a very enjoyable and informative weekend. treated. After the war, it became Union-occupied Hope to see more members on next year’s trip. ♦ as a Freedmen’s Bureau. (Photographs by Mike Mazzocchi) The first floor has exhibits regarding the The Camp Olden Gazette 2 building’s use as a tavern. When the Orange Alexandria railroad came to Gordonsville and connected with the Central Virginia tracks, waiting passengers were treated to fried chicken, ham sandwiches, fried pies and fruits. In 1869, Dr. George W. Bagby proclaimed it “the chicken leg centre of the universe.” It would be another eight decades before local trains provided food and beverage services. Exchange Hotel There is also an exhibit about the Confederate Gary and I were dismayed to see the account of a Secret Service. When Jeb Stuart operated in the “Mrs. Estes” who was fined in one of the court Eastern Theater, he reported to Dr. Cornelius hearings for her treatment of former slaves. I Boyle who was Major General Provost Marshal of told Gary that I was glad it wasn’t MY side of the Army of Northern Virginia. The secret cypher the family! We later learned that it was not one codes and clandestine visits by known spies add of his direct family either, but a far-removed mystery and intrigue to this well-fortified railroad collateral ancestor. supply junction. While the collection exhibited at the Exchange In March of 1862, the Confederacy transformed Hotel is small, it is interesting and covers several the Exchange Hotel into the Gordonsville different aspects of the building’s use. If you Receiving Hospital. The wounded and dying from have the opportunity, we recommend a visit! the nearby battlefields of Cedar Mountain, Mine For information visit www.hgiexchange.com Run, Chancellorsville, Trevilian, Brandy Station Like the GAR Museum in Philadelphia, this and the Wilderness were brought in by the facility is staffed mostly by volunteers who have trainload to the railroad platform in front of the a sincere love of the building’s history and its hotel. In one year alone, 23,000 men were treated role in our country’s Civil War. The at the Exchange. The second floor has exhibits administrator, Angel May, welcomed us, which showcase the hotel’s use at this time. answered questions, and was delighted when we The once beautifully manicured lawn and gardens were able to provide additional information around the building were churned into a sea of rd about a photograph on the 3 floor. (The picture mud and debris as tents and crude sheds sprang up included Civil War nurse Annie Bell Stubbs but to house the overflow of wounded. The fields she was not identified. I forwarded documentation behind the hotel became a garden of graves that to Angel to correct this situation and she was would eventually claim a harvest of more than 700 delighted to “put a name to the face” and give soldiers. credit to one of the volunteer nurses. Annie is To protect the newly freed slaves, the Federal one of the nurses whose formerly unmarked Government created the Bureau of Refugees, grave was finally identified with a stone Freedmen and Abandoned Lands, usually referred purchased with funds raised by volunteers in to as the Freedmen’s Bureau. Using confiscated 1996. She is interred in West Laurel Hill Confederate property, the government established Cemetery near Philadelphia.) ♦ schools, hospitals and courtrooms. The Exchange Hotel was used for all of these purposes from 1865 to 1868. In 1867, there were 250 students registered to learn to read and write in the hotel. Court sessions were also held here for cases no higher than $100 or 30 days in jail and were adjudicated on the first floor (although the Freedman’s Bureau exhibit is located upstairs). The Camp Olden Gazette 3 Reenacting - Corps of Engineers. (especially the pontoon bridges) defense positions, Contributed by Dan Fox working with the railroad in building tracks, I have been involved with CW Reenacting for 20 bridges setting up of camps to towns. years now. In the early years I was a private in the Our company of veteran engineers has built 110th Pa. Vol. Inf. Our unit was part of the Mifflin demonstration scale models of pontoon bridges Guard, which is the parent company for units in (these are 5 feet in length with three pontoons the Mid-Atlantic States.